Monday, September 26, 2016

It is not only Pink Mail Art that has been landing in my
post office box for the upcoming
show, but I also have been received additional mail art, including some
that does seem a bit pink-inspired.Some
of the recent arrivals include:

Friday, September 23, 2016

Imagining the busy corner of Grove and Van Ness a few hundred years
ago.Perhaps when there was still a
grove of oak trees.Long before our
beautiful City Hall was built and before the Henry Moore sculpture was placed
in front of Symphony Hall.This Time Travel
Photo captures the past and the present. It even features one of the
Beaux Arts light poles that may no longer be part of the streetscape in the
future (read about the controversy here).

This is the final piece from my new series of Time Travel
Photos.They will all be shown at San
Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and
Gallery.The show runs from October 11
to November 27, 2016.The opening
reception is on the evening of Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 pm.

Monday, September 12, 2016

This is the latest piece from my series of Time Travel
Photos.They will all be shown at San
Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and
Gallery.The show runs from October 11
to November 27, 2016.The opening
reception is on the evening of Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 pm.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

I still remember the first time I arrived in San Francisco.Coming across the Bay Bridge and seeing the
Transamerica Pyramid for the first time — at 11 years old, it made a big
impression.It is a 1970s skyscraper,
that in the 21st Century, still feels modern and not all dated.The Pyramid was built on the edge of the
Financial District surrounded by historic buildings, some that even survived the
1906 Earthquake and Fire.It is a unique
neighborhood for San Francisco with many small quiet streets and alleys that
are more typical in much older cities.If
it were 1848, the Pyramid would have sat just off the waters edge.Eventually land was filled in and the
waterfront is now five blocks to the east.The neighborhood is built over the remains of ships that were abandoned
by their crews in the rush to get to the gold fields.

At 11 years old, little did I imagine that, 16 years later, I would work
in the shadow of the Pyramid.One of the
things that made my boring job bearable was not being stuck in some sterile
office building.I worked in buildings
with some history and even a few ghosts.Spending time down there, made me want to learn more about the City’s
history.Leidesdorff was an unusual name
and I wondered whom that street was named for.William
Leidesdorff was a remarkable and quintessential San Franciscan.He was a multi-ethnic, immigrant who was the
citizen of three countries.Leidesdorff
was a successful entrepreneur who started the first regular steamboat service
across the Bay, built the first hotel and operated a warehouse in a spot at the
water’s edge that was to become Leidesdorff Street (more about Leidesdorff can
be found here).

This layered Time
Travel Photo illustrates the present and the natural past and
also few layers in between.

The new series of Time Travel Photos will be presented in a new show at
San Francisco’s Glama-Rama Salon and
Gallery.The show runs from October 11
to November 27, 2016.Mark your calendar
for the opening reception on the evening of Saturday, October 15 at 7:30 pm.

About Me

I am an artist living in San Francisco. I work primarily in mixed media, collage and landscape painting. My work has included maps, postcard-themed art and mail art projects. In 2013 I began a series called Collagescapes where I start painting paper with areas of color representing the palette of a specific place. Next I cut the paper into hundreds of small pieces, randomize the pieces and then reassemble them in various geometric patterns. Collagescapes are both landscape paintings and collages. They appear abstract but retain the color palette of the places they represent.
My new series is Time Travel Photos — handmade photo collages showing places in San Francisco where I have cut and sliced present-day photographs and interwoven photos of nature representing how the City looked before Europeans arrived. Each is an image of an urban space with the natural past emerging through. For example, creeks once again run through the Mission and dunes reappear in Golden Gate Park and tidal flats fill the Embarcadero.
My work has shown in over 40 venues, primarily in California but also in other locations in the United States and abroad. My artwork can be viewed at tofuart.com